After All These Years
by Kirmon64
Summary: Four months after her retirement as an Interpol cop, Carmelita gets a visitor. Definitely SlyCarm.


This is quitea bit sadder than my other Sly oneshot, so that's a fair warning. On with the fic!

_Dedicated to my grandma. My your spirit pass on safely to the afterlife, Nana._

* * *

Carmelita Fox stretched lazily in bed, sunlight pouring through the partially closed curtains. Then, she bolted upright, realizing that she would be late for work unless she hurried up. Five seconds later, she remembered that she had retired four months ago. Shaking her head in amusement she stood up, brushing a lock of once black, now dark grey hair away from her face. Pulling a housecoat on, she walked into the bathroom. Almost unconsciously, she studied her aging features in the mirror. Her once vibrant red fur was becoming silver, and her yellow fur was now more white than yellow. There were more wrinkles around her eyes than ever, and her hands shook sometimes while doing a delicate task. Still, she was extraordinarily fit for a sixty-year-old, both in mind and body. Probably from three decades of chasing a certain raccoon across the globe. Just as quickly as the thought of 'a certain raccoon' had come up, Carmelita banished it from her mind. She really didn't want to think about him right now.

It had been four months since anyone had heard about him, the same time she had retired. Maybe he had been truthful, saying that thieving was only fun with her to chase him...

Carmelita, realizing that she was thinking about (who else?) Sly Cooper again, bent down, turned on the tap, and splashed the cold water on her face. Finally able to rid her thoughts of the thief, the fox walked out into the living room, sitting down on the couch. She had just barely picked up the remote when the doorbell rang. Carmelita frowned, puzzled. Putting the remote down, she rose and unlocked the door, opening it,

A young raccoon stood in the doorway. "Are you Carmelita Fox?" she asked, her voice carrying a hint of a Finnish accent.

Carmelita wondered where this was going. "Yes. And may I ask who you are?"

"Only if you promise not to close the door on me."

Thoroughly puzzled now, Carmelita nodded.

"My name is Heidi Cooper."

Carmelita jerked back in surprise. The young raccoon, thinking that she would close the door, placed a hand on it. "Please, hear me through."

Slowly, Carmelita nodded.

"May I come in?"

Another nod. The young Cooper stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "Are... Are you..."

"No, I'm not Sly's daughter, if that's what you were going to ask. Not his biological daughter, anyways."

Carmelita, having recovered from the shock, demanded, "What do you mean? And how do I know you're really who you say you are?"

Heidi reached up behind her head, untying something. A thief's mask fell away from her face. Normally, a raccoon would have black fur around his or her eyes, but Heidi was different. Her fur was completely silver there. "All Coopers have silver fur on their face, no black fur. We have to wear masks at all times to not be recognized. And..." she pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Carmelita.

The vixen recognized it instantly. "Sly's calling card..." she murmured, suddenly aware that she hadn't seen it for months. She looked back up at Heidi. "Where did you get this?"

"This might take a while, let's sit down." Carmelita, still holding the card, did so, Heidi sitting down beside her. The raccoon took a deep breath. "It was almost ten years ago that Sly went to Finland to pull a heist. It was there that he met my father, Ilmari Cooper. My dad was killed on that heist, by an overzealous officer. Before he died, he told Sly about me, and asked him to take care of me until I was old enough to take care of myself." She fiddled with her mask for a few moments, then blurted, "He's dying, Carmelita."

"_What?_!"

She bit her lip, nodding. "It's cancer. The doctors thought that they got it all out, but it spread, and now..." she swallowed. "He asked me to come and tell you. He wanted to see you one last time, I think."

Carmelita was totally speechless. Her grip tightened on the card. Already she was regretting words not said, things not done... "Sly..." she whispered.

"You want to see him?"

Carmelita looked up and nodded. "Yes, yes I would."

* * *

Carmelita could barely contain herself as she and Heidi walked into the hospital that Sly was in. The receptionist and the raccoon talked in low voices for a moment, then the raccoon took Carmelita's arm and pulled her along. "We've gotta hurry. They're going to try to remove the cancer again." The next few minutes were a blur to Carmelita, until the duo stopped in front of a room. "Go on, Carmelita." Heidi whispered, pushing her forward. With a trembling hand, Carmelita reached for the doorhandle and turned it. A very odd sight greeted her. Sly was lying down on the single bed, twirling his cane lazily. The raccoon looked much like Carmelita remembered, except patches of his fur were missing, and a few parts had become slightly white. "S-Sly..."

Hearing his name, the raccoon looked over toward her. His eyes widened in surprise and he dropped the cane. "Carm? I didn't think you'd come..."

Feeling like she was in a dream, the vixen sat down in the chair beside her once-rival. She leaned forward slightly. In her eyes, the raccoon in front of her was no longer around sixty, he was the young, twenty-something flirter that she had known almost four decades ago.

To Sly, Carmelita had reversed her age as well, and was the fiery Inspector that was constantly chasing him. "Carm, I..."

The vixen reached forward and put a finger on his lips. She leaned forward more, until her lips touched his. "I think I've been wanting to do that for a long time, Sly, I've never realized until now..."

Her words brought them both back to the present.

Sly was the first to speak. "You still look as beautiful as ever, mi amor." he said with a trademark Cooper grin.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, buster..." she said, smiling back and twirling a lock of her hair around her finger absentmindedly. She leaned forward again, and this time Sly was ready.

This time, when they broke apart, both of them were slightly breathless. Something suddenly occurred to Carmelita. "You aren't married, are you?" she asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice.

Sly shook his head. "There was never anyone else except you, Carm, you've got my word as a Cooper." he tilted his head slightly at her.

The vixen answered the unasked question. "I was engaged once, but it never really worked out... something was telling me that I couldn't be with him..." Another though occurred to her. "Why did you disappear when I retired?"

Sly smiled, almost a sad smile. "Ah, there were two reasons. The first was because you were retiring, after all, it's no fun-"

"Stealing unless I was there to chase you, I know."

"You know me too well, Carm. Originally, me and the gang - Bentley and Murray - were going to get back together, to pull off one last heist, without anyone else helping. We were going to steal La gemme d'amour from the Paris museum, the day before you retired."

"And I bet you intended to leave it on my desk, just like old times."

Sly grinned again. "Yeah." he quickly sobered up. "And that was the night... the night we found out about the cancer..."

Carmelita gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm so sorry Sly, that I never realized how I felt until now..."

"Hey, it's okay Carm, it's okay..." he reached up and brushed a tear away. "I'll always be here for you, maybe not in body, but in mind, I promise." Gently, he pulled her into a hug. Across the room, the door opened. Carmelita was too absorbed in Sly to notice, but Sly did. Two medics were there, a stretcher between them. Sly gave them a death glare and they (very quickly) backed out of the room. "Carm? I need to go..."

Carmelita looked up into Sly's old but still handsome features. Blinking back tears, she released him from her grip and stood up.

Sly rose too, initially leaning on his cane for support. Then he reached over to the book on the table and picked it up. He flipped through the old tome for a few seconds before finding what he had been looking for. Grinning, he pulled something out and handed it to her. She stared at it. It was a picture, its quality poor, but two shapes were visible sitting on opposite sides of a rooftop, looking away from each other. The vixen looked back up at Sly, puzzled. His grin grew. "C'mon Carm, can't you recognize them?"

She looked back down at the photo. Yes, the right shape did seem familiar... It suddenly clicked. "The one on the left is me, isn't it? And the other one is you."

The raccoon nodded. "I had Bentley enhance the image on his computer. Don't ask me how we both ended up on the same roof without noticing each other, but it's still a good picture, isn't it?"

Carmelita was speechless. She threw her arms around Sly, hugging him tightly. He embraced her back, feeling wetness on his cheeks. He wasn't sure whose tears they were. "Come out of there Sly, please."

Sly opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, he looked into Carmelita's face and gave a roguish grin. "Hey, I'm Sly Cooper. I can get out of impossible situations, no prob." he gave her one last kiss, then strode boldly toward the door, twirling his cane confidently. Outside, he hugged Bentley, Murray, and Heidi, all of whom had been waiting outside. Refusing assistance from the nurses, he walked down the hallway, his cane doing incredible tricks as though it had a mind of its own. Before turning the corner, he looked back at the four and gave them a confident wink.

That was the last time Carmelita saw Sly alive.


End file.
